what's SharkPool?

SharkPool is an education-focused liquid staking pool on Solana, developed by Shark Labs. It partners with blockchain clubs at over 20 universities across the US and Canada, including Princeton, Columbia, UC Berkeley, Dartmouth, and Vanderbilt, to deploy and operate production Solana validators on campuses. Students gain hands-on experience managing infrastructure through a dedicated Student Dashboard, where they complete Solana-themed quests, track performance metrics like uptime and stake, participate in leaderboards, and engage via news feeds and referrals to earn points that boost their university's validator stake. The platform issues sharkSOL as a liquid staking token when users deposit SOL, enabling staking rewards while maintaining liquidity. Validators use high-performance setups like FD+Jito clients for optimal block times. The native $SHARK token integrates via Pump.fun trades, where transaction fees automatically allocate to a University Fund for scholarships and club operations, student quest rewards, holder incentives, and ecosystem development. Governance allows token holders to vote on funding distributions, with transparent multisig wallets and quarterly reports ensuring accountability.